[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H4344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GREENHOUSE EFFECT IS GLOBAL CHALLENGE

  (Mr. GILCHREST asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with the House some 
interesting observations from a recent book that I just read called 
``Laboratory Earth'' by Dr. Schneider from Stanford University.
  Our atmosphere has a very tiny trace amount of carbon dioxide, which 
is natural for the atmosphere, but that tiny trace amount has a 
substantial effect on the atmospheric heat balance of our planet, which 
we call the ``greenhouse effect.''
  In the last 100 or so years, we have increased because of our energy 
needs the amount of that trace gas in the atmosphere by about 30 
percent, which is fairly extraordinary when we think that minute amount 
that causes a balance of heat on the planet.
  Think about this observation, and I think it is interesting: When we 
burn a lump of coal today, we are recovering the carbon dioxide and 
solar heat of dinosaur times in fossil organic matter. While it took 
millions of years to make a coal deposit, we are releasing that same 
amount of carbon dioxide and other embedded elements in tens of years.
  The speed of this human accelerated process creates one of the 
biggest global challenges that face us today. An interesting 
observation.

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